The boss of Barrett Developments has urged Michael Gove to rethink a £3bn tax on housebuilders to fix the cladding crisis.
David Thomas has claimed the tax will leave no incentive for companies to base themselves in the UK or be listed in London.
The Barrett chief wrote to the housing secretary to express his “deep disappointment” at the handling of the issue, as he reported strong housing demand across the country.
Barratt has spent or set aside £480m to fix buildings it developed that have been deemed unsafe after a government overhaul of building regulations.
In addition, the FTSE 100 housebuilder has calculated that it will pay £400m over the next decade via the residential property developer tax for the remediation of buildings that Barratt had no role in developing. It also faces paying a share of a £3bn building safety levy to fund the removal of cladding from buildings for which the developer cannot be traced.
Thomas urged Gove to delay implementing the building safety levy until other parties, including overseas developers, involved in the construction of unsafe buildings had paid a share of the costs.
